


Bird's Eye View

by roguewrld



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Rape/Non-con, Gen, Grant is a mess, Post Yes-Men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1432273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguewrld/pseuds/roguewrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD is sending someone to interrogate Ward. Skye watches.</p><p>“What happened wasn’t your fault.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bird's Eye View

**Author's Note:**

> Written pre-Uprising and pre-Winter Soldier although not obviously contradicting anything in either source.

“SHIELD is sending someone to debrief me.” Ward was sitting on her floor, staring at a unremarkable spot on the wall. “If it had been anyone buy May, they’d be dead. I’ll probably be relieved, at the very least. I’ll make sure-“

“Wait, hold up.” Skye shifted positions so she could see more than the top of his head. They were all of them patched together messes but even someone healthy would be a mess after what had happened to Ward. “What happened wasn’t your fault.”

“I led an attack on this plane, putting my teammates at risk. I let Loralie-“

“Stop.” Skye sat up, slowly. Her guts hurt but she was pretty sure they were going to stay put. “You didn’t *let* Loralie do anything.”

“I should have been able to resist her.” He was still staring at the wall. “I was trained to resist interrogation.”

“Grant,” She slid down to the floor beside him, not sure how she was going to get back up if he took off. “Loralie raped you.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“It is.” She slid her hand across the floor so it was next to but not quite touching his hand. “That’s what it’s called, when someone forces you to have sex with them.”

She was shocked when he reached out that last inch and took her hand. “That’s not how SHIELD will see it.”

“Do you know whose coming?” She couldn’t tell how much of his fear was real and how much was trauma. They couldn’t actually blame him, could they? She hoped SHIELD was better than that.

“If it was my call?” His grip tightened. “Romanoff. She’s incredible at it. She’s the one who interrogated Loki before the attack on New York. You give her everything and don’t even realize you’ve done it.”

“Coulson won’t let them take you.” Short of revving up the internet vigilante justice machine, she wasn’t sure what she could do for him. You couldn’t shame a secret government agency like you could a local PD.

Ward dragged his eyes up from the floor and laughed. It wasn’t a nice laugh. “If you think Agent Coulson would really choose one of us over Agent Romanoff, we haven’t been telling you enough gossip.”

“It’s going to be alright.” Skye hoped she wasn’t lying.

* * *

It was a man who came aboard in New York. Skye watched the whole thing on the security feeds, while Jemma fussed.

Whoever it was, Coulson looked surprised to see him. “Barton.”

“Sir.” There was an innocuous looking bag slung over the guy’s shoulder. It made Skye nervous. “I need to speak to Ward. Can we use your office?”

Jemma sort of winced at the screen. “That’s Clint Barton. Codename, Hawkeye.”

“Is that good or bad?” It wasn’t Romanoff at least, not that Skye knew who that was. SHIELD had been tight lipped about the Avengers, all she knew about Hawkeye was stories from people who had supposedly been in the circus with him. Which was ridiculous. What kid actually ran away and joined the circus?

Jemma shrugged and on the video feed, Coulson was saying, “I tried-“

“Sir, I really need to speak to Ward.” Barton didn’t seem to want to listen and that made Skye pissed off. Who was he, to judge Ward? Just some asshole with a bow and nice arms. “I called in a lot of favors to make sure it was me. If we don’t get this done, they’ll send someone else.”

She could see the moment Coulson decided to back down. “Go on. I’ll send him up.”

She watched Ward climb the stairs like a man going to his execution. Maybe he was. Skye thought of the bag and wondered where the line between paranoia and reasonable suspicion was these days.

Barton had taken the chair at Coulson’s desk. “Grant, good to see you again.”

“Sir.” Ward was standing ram-rod straight and Skye wished Coulson had gone up with him. They didn’t know anything about this guy, who knew what he was going to do to Ward?

“He’s a sniper’s sniper.” Jemma sat on the edge of the bed. “A legend. The other Avengers are level sixes, but not Hawkeye and the Black Widow. They’re senior agents, Level Sevens.

“Don’t sir me.” Was the hell did that mean? “Have a seat, let’s get this over with.”

“I would rather stand, Agent Barton.”

Skye threw her blankets off. “I’m going up there.”

“You are not.” Jemma gave a hard shoved at her chest. “What are you going to do? Tell the scary assassin to be nicer to our friend?”

“Yes.” She thought Ward looked scared, but it was hard to tell with him.

“Alright.” Barton opened up his bag and took out a digital recorder. “Let’s start with why it’s me and not someone who’s actually good at this.”

“You’re here because you trained me. I remember what you said, sir. You always cleaned up your own messes.” Holy shit, Ward thought the guy was here to kill him. “I was supervising a trainee. I would appreciate it if you-“

“I led the attack on the helicarrier.”

 Jemma let out a surprised squeak and Ward looked just as surprised. “You fought in the Battle for New York.”

“Yeah, I did. After. You think Loralie is the only Asgardian who can compel you? I wasn’t injured at PEGASUS, even if that’s the story Fury’s telling, I was taken. I killed a lot of people for him. Whatever you gave her, its nothing compared to what I did for Loki.”

Skye got a sort of sick feeling. “Didn’t Agent Coulson die on the helicarrier, before the battle?”

“Yes.” How the hell had SHIELD kept that quiet?

Ward sat.

“Whatever happened to you, whatever she did to you?  Those are her crimes. You were her victim, you weren’t responsible.” Barton absently touched his chest, where the heart was. "I’m not here to interrogate you, Grant. All I need to know is if you gave up any official locations and then I’ll go. But if you want to talk about this with someone who understands, we can do that too.”

“She made me-“ Ward’s voice cracked.

“I know.” Barton got up from behind the desk and crouched beside Ward’s chair. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Grant.”

Skye killed the video feed.


End file.
